


Cuddle

by MyDearFae



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Partial Nudity, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 14:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12819051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyDearFae/pseuds/MyDearFae
Summary: After a long recording session, a very sleepy Arin and Dan decide to spend the night at the Grump space.  A lonely Dan propositions Arin for some cuddles, and they end up spending the night asleep together on the couch.





	Cuddle

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part in what I hope will be a 4 part series in which Arin's and Dan's relationship progresses from cuddling to much, much more.

“My God, is it really almost one in the morning?” asked Dan.  
“Looks like it,” said Arin, glancing up at the clock on the wall. “Ready to call it a night?'  
“I think that would be a good idea.”  
Arin nodded in agreement, relieved that Dan hadn't pushed to film another episode of Game Grumps. The day's recording session should have wrapped hours ago, but thanks to a late start and a higher than usual number of random tech issues, they had only just finished. Arin was more than ready to be done with it. He stood up and busied himself turning off equipment, yawning a few times as he did so. He hadn't realized how tired he actually felt until he'd gotten up. After he was finished, he returned to the couch to find Dan half lying over one of the arms, his eyes closed.  
“Don't fall asleep, Dan,” said Arin. “You have to drive home.”  
“I think I might be too tired to drive home,” said Dan.  
“Yeah,” said Arin. “I don't even remember the last time we recorded this late.”  
“It's definitely been awhile," said Dan. He stretched, and Arin thought he was going to get up; instead, he leaned over until he was lying on the couch, his head resting on the cushions just shy of Arin's leg.  
“Dan,” said Arin. “Don't lay down. You're going to fall asleep.” When Dan just groaned in response, Arin continued, “You need to get up.”  
“I can't,” said Dan. “I'm so tired. I really probably shouldn't drive home.”  
“You can get an Uber. Or I could drive you.”  
“I know,” said Dan, but he still didn't move.  
A comfortable silence fell over the two of them. Arin leaned back into the couch cushions and shut his eyes. He knew it was a bad idea, and that he needed to take his own advice and get up, but he was so tired and the couch was so comfortable . . . He was beginning to doze off when he felt Dan shifting on the couch. He opened his eyes and looked down to see Dan looking up at him, smiling.  
“Maybe I'm not the only one who shouldn't be driving home,” said Dan.  
“I am tired,” said Arin. “Maybe we could share an Uber?”  
“I don't know,” said Dan. “Honestly, I'd almost rather just spend the night here.”  
Arin laughed. “Why?”  
“I don't know,” said Dan. “Right now, going home just . . .” His voice trailed off and he sighed. “Never mind. I guess we can split an Uber.”  
“All right,” said Arin, reaching for his phone. “Works for me. But what were you going to say about going home?”  
“It was nothing. Just rambling.”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yeah. I mean . . . yeah, it's nothing.”  
“Okay.”  
“Home's just a little depressing right now, that's all,” said Dan.  
“How so?” asked Arin, surprised by Dan's sudden burst of honesty.  
“It's just lonely. Coming home to an empty house, going to bed alone, waking up alone . . . The single life is starting to lose its appeal, I guess.”  
“That's understandable. It has been awhile since you were serious with anyone.”  
Dan nodded and looked down at his lap; he picked at a loose thread in one of the holes in his jeans.  
“Do you want to talk about it?” asked Arin.  
Dan shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. “But maybe when it's not after one in the morning and we're not both half asleep.”  
“I won't lie, I'm a little relieved to hear that,” said Arin, laughing.  
Dan smiled. “Thanks.”  
“So, Uber?” asked Arin.  
“Actually, I think I'd prefer a night on the Grump couch to going home,” said Dan. “If that's OK with you?”  
“I don't care,” said Arin. “I think there are some pillows and blankets in one of the closets."  
“Sounds good,” said Dan, getting to his feet and walking towards the door.  
Alone on the couch, Arin was about to arrange for a ride home, but the sound of Dan in the other room, rummaging through closets looking for pillows and blankets, made him hesitate. For some reason, it made him sad, and the thought of Dan sleeping here on their couch, all alone, to avoid going home to an empty house made him even sadder. He set his phone down and waited for Dan to come back. It wasn't long before Dan walked into the room, a pillow tucked under one of his arms and a plush blanket wrapped around his shoulders. To Arin's surprise, he could see that beneath the blanket, Dan had stripped down to his boxers.  
“Where are your clothes?” asked Arin.  
“I'm not going to sleep in my jeans,” Dan replied.  
“Fair enough,” said Arin. He watched as Dan sat back down on the couch, wrapping the blanket around him and tucking it beneath his knees. “Dan, you could just come home with me and spend the night in my guest room. I think that would be a lot nicer than you staying at the office.”  
“I'm fine,” said Dan, yawning. “I just want to go to sleep. You should wait for your ride outside.”  
“I didn't set up a ride.”  
“Then drive safe. Either way, please get out so I can go to sleep.”  
Arin laughed. “Why don't . . . why don't I stay here too? I don't want you to be by yourself?”  
“I'm a grown ass man, Arin. I'll be fine.” And then, with a touch of bitterness in his voice, “Besides, you have a wife and cats to go home to. You shouldn't stay.”  
Arin chose to ignore Dan's tone, chalking it up to loneliness and exhaustion. “I'm also a grown ass man,” he said, “and I'm going to stay too.”  
“You can do what you want, just please let me go to sleep,” said Dan.  
Arin stood up, and Dan stretched out on the couch, pulling his blanket over him and rolling over so that his back was to Arin. Arin went to the bathroom and got undressed, stripping down to his boxers as Dan had. He folded up his clothes and stacked them on the counter next to Dan's. He sent Suzy a text message letting her know what was going on, then put his phone on silent. As quietly as he could, he found a throw blanket in one of the closets. He turned out the lights, and once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he found one of the bean bag chairs they kept around the office and dragged it close to the couch. He lay down on the bean bag as best he could and covered himself up; the blanket was small so he curled into a ball to fit beneath it. Nearly as soon as he closed his eyes and relaxed, he felt himself falling asleep.  
He was almost out when, from the darkness above him, he heard Dan say, “Arin, are you awake?”  
“Kind of,” Arin answered without moving.  
“Can I asked you something that's going to make me sound totally lame?”  
“Sure.”  
“Could we maybe . . . cuddle?”  
Arin laughed. “Are you serious?”  
“A little bit.”  
“What happened to get out so I can go to sleep?”  
Dan sighed. “Forget I asked, then.”  
“I didn't say no,” said Arin. “Don't you think it might be weird, though?”  
Dan didn't say anything, and Arin, as weird as he thought it might be, was tempted to say yes. After all, he and Dan had cuddled before and he knew the couch was a lot more comfortable than the bean bag. Maybe it wouldn't be as weird as he thought, especially if it was only for a little while . . .  
“Okay,” said Arin. “We can cuddle.”  
“Are you sure?” asked Dan.  
“If you want to.”  
“I do.”  
Arin climbed to his feet, expecting Dan to make room for him on the couch; instead, Dan stood up as well.  
“How did you want to do this?” asked Arin.  
“Did I not tell you just a little while ago how pathetically lonely I am? I get to be the little spoon.”  
“I guess that's fair,” said Arin. He moved past Dan to the couch and started to lie down, but he stopped and said, “Do you want me to put on a shirt? Or . . . pants?”  
In the darkness, Arin could just make out Dan shrugging. “You can if you want to, but I don't really care.”  
“You're fine with me being half naked?”  
“Yep. I'm that lonely.”  
Arin stretched out on the couch, lying on his side and pressing into the back of it so that Dan had plenty of room. He tucked his left arm beneath the pillow, and with his right hand, he lifted up the blanket, inviting Dan to lie down. Dan stretched out alongside Arin, and after a few seconds of him settling in, his back was pressed into firmly into Arin's bare chest. Even though he was expecting it, the skin to skin contact made Arin gasp. Dan asked if he was OK, and Arin managed a quiet yes in response. Once Dan was settled against him, Arin lowered the blanket over them. Without thinking, he slid his right arm around Dan's waist; he was about to ask if it was okay, but before he could, he heard Dan sigh contentedly.  
“Are you comfortable?” asked Arin.  
“I am,” Dan replied, his voice tired. “Thank you.”  
Arin pulled Dan more tightly to him in response. Impulsively, he lifted his right hand from the couch and rested it, fingers splayed, flat against Dan's chest. He half expected Dan to push him away; instead, he felt one of Dan's hands move to rest over his.  
Arin closed his eyes and relaxed. He knew that, objectively, it was a little weird to be lying there in nothing but his underwear with an equally undressed Dan in his arms—but it didn't feel weird. The couch, as small as it was for two grown men to be cuddling on, was definitely more comfortable than the bean bag chair would have been, and holding Dan felt good. Arin knew that once he was awake he was going to have all sorts of questions for himself about why this felt so nice and so normal and so easy, but right now, he was both too sleepy and too comfortable to think about that. Besides, he knew it was very unlikely that he'd ever have the opportunity to do this again, and he wanted to savor it, not ruin it with over thinking. Beneath his hand that was resting on Dan's chest, he could feel Dan's heart rate slowing down as his sleep deepened. Arin matched his breath to Dan's and within minutes he was sound asleep.

Hours later, Arin woke to the sound of Dan's phone alarm going off. His arm was still around Dan's waist and somehow, one of his feet had ended up between Dan's ankles; it was warm beneath the blanket but he was comfortable. He didn't want to move yet, so he kept his eyes shut and tried to ignore the alarm. Barely a minute later, though, he felt Dan shifting as he woke up too. He felt Dan roll away from him slightly, as though he was trying to move as little as possible. The alarm noise stopped and Arin felt Dan lean back into him with a sigh.  
“Did that wake you, Arin?” asked Dan quietly.  
“Yeah,” said Arin.  
“Sorry.”  
“It's OK. What time is it?”  
“Almost nine,” said Dan. And then, “I have to go to the bathroom.”  
Arin lifted his arm and disentangled his feet from Dan's, and Dan stood up. He stretched and looked over his shoulder, shooting Arin a smile before he left the room. Once he was gone, Arin rolled onto his back. He kicked the blanket off of him and let it fall to the floor. He sat up and grabbed his phone, and was in the process of texting Suzy when Dan returned. He was half dressed, wearing socks and jeans, and he was carrying Arin's clothes under his arm.  
“I brought you your clothes,” said Dan.  
“Thanks,” said Arin, sitting up and taking his clothes from Dan. He pulled his shirt on first, then stood up to put on his pants. Once he was dressed he sat back down on the couch; a second later, he was joined by a fully clothed Dan. Arin smiled at Dan, instead of smiling back, Dan looked concerned.  
“What is it?” asked Arin.  
“Do you feel weird about . . . last night?”  
“I don't. Do you?”  
“No,” said Dan. “I thought I would. But I don't know—I actually thought last night was kind of nice.”  
“Me too,” said Arin.  
“Good,” said Dan. “But even so . . .” He paused and cleared his throat, and Arin could see that he was blushing. “Even so, I'm sorry I asked to cuddle. I know it was kind of lame.”  
“It's really okay,” said Arin. “I like it when I can make you feel better.” He thought for a second, then asked, “Why are we both so okay with this? It should feel weird, right?”  
Dan shrugged. “For most people probably. But you and I have never been most people.”  
“True,” said Arin, laughing. “Although I do think it would be best if we didn't tell anyone that we slept together.”  
“That makes it sound so much dirtier than it was,” said Dan. “I'm not planning on telling anyone, though.”  
“Good,” said Arin.  
“I think I'll head home,” said Dan. “I really need to take a shower.”  
“Same here,” said Arin.  
Together they stood up and spent a minute folding their blankets and straightening up the room. Then Arin followed Dan from the office to the parking lot, where their cars were parked side by side.  
“So I'll see you later,” said Dan as he unlocked his car. “Hopefully the next Grumps session goes better.”  
“Hopefully,” said Arin. “See you then.”  
Arin waved as Dan drove away, then he climbed into his own car. He put the keys into the ignition but instead of starting the car, he just sat there, thinking. He had told Dan he didn't feel weird about last night, and while that was mostly the truth, he did feel . . . something. He closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head on the steering wheel, and thought about Dan's body pressed into his the night before. He thought about Dan's heartbeat beneath his hand and Dan's hand over his, and he felt goosebumps rising on his arms. He knew it was a bad idea to dwell on how good that had felt, because he knew it was an even worse idea to let himself think of Dan as anything more than a friend and business partner. He'd always had a little bit of a crush on Dan, but he'd managed, for years, to keep any crush like feelings controlled and suppressed. Now that he'd slept beside Dan, pressed against him, holding him . . . he had a feeling the crush was going to get a little more difficult to deal with. He knew that he should never have agreed to cuddle with Dan last night.  
But as he turned on his car and started the drive home, all Arin could think about was how much he wanted to do it again.


End file.
